


Small Acts

by SequinSmile



Series: Glittering Mica [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Romance, almost as much as they love each other, i just love them ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 18:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SequinSmile/pseuds/SequinSmile
Summary: An exploration of how a simple cup of coffee can be an act of love.Excerpts from my story "Glittering Mica."
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Emily Prentiss
Series: Glittering Mica [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2215641
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Small Acts

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> The response to Glittering Mica was honestly amazing, and I fell in love with writing that version of Aaron and Emily and just found myself writing more. 
> 
> I thought I'd share some of that with you. 
> 
> If you haven't read Glittering Mica I would recommend doing so before reading this one - as this story fills in some of its gaps. 
> 
> This will be a two parter.

The first coffee they have together after he returns to her life feels strangely more intimate than the drinks they had shared in the weeks beforehand. She was having a bad day at work, endless paperwork and decisions where the buck ends with her wearing her down. She’d sent him a text complaining about it, knowing he is the only other person who truly understands how it feels. He replies saying he’s on campus that day giving a lecture and asks if she wants to meet. She agrees before she really thinks about it.

Emily enters the coffee shop, an old favourite of theirs back in the days when they were both in the BAU and his divorce was fresh. It feels odd to be here now with so many years and awful things behind them. She finds him sat at a table in the back with two steaming mugs in front of him. She slides into the chair opposite him and smiles at him, a smile he returns gladly. 

“It’s decaf by the way.” Aaron asks as a greeting, watching as she lifts her coffee to her lips.

She takes a sip of her coffee, impressed he somehow knows she’s still trying her best to limit her caffeine intake, and she smiles when she can taste just the right amount of Splenda in it, marvelling that he seems to remember after all this time. “You remembered.” She comments, the words slipping out before she can stop them. 

“Like I could forget anything about you.” He replies, his gaze as intense as she always remembers it being. 

In the three weeks it’s been since she answered her phone to find his voice on the other end, and after their initial slightly awkward first meeting things between them were slowly changing. They were walking a fine line between friendship and flirting. Their reconnection was still so delicate. She hadn’t even told any of the others that she had been talking to him yet, although she knew her team weren’t idiots. They would have noticed the change in her mood, which had been somewhat sad since she broke up with Andrew. She’d almost convinced herself she’d spend the rest of her life alone. 

“Tough day?” He speaks again, pulling her out of her reflective mood.  
She groans and puts her mug back down on the table. “Like you wouldn’t believe.” 

She tells him everything about her day, and it occurs to her just how nice it is to talk to someone who truly gets it. He tells her Jack has been asking about her since they had reconnected and she realises she can’t say no when Aaron asks her over to dinner at the next given opportunity.

________________________________

She wakes alone, which surprises her slightly given that she fell asleep with him next to her. Her head was pounding, sore from the hit to the head she’d taken on the case she had just got back from. She sits up in her bed and rubs the tiredness away from her eyes, fingers catching slightly on the bandage on her forehead, her bangs haphazardly stuck around the offending piece of white fabric. 

“You’re awake.” His voice draws her attention to the doorway of her bedroom and he’s stood there with two mugs in his hands, the smell of her favourite brand of coffee wafting across the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” Her guarded response is automatic and the raise of his eyebrow at her as he joins her back on the bed tells her how little he believes her. She sighs, “My head feels like it’s been hit with the butt of a gun.” 

“That’s because it was.” He quips, handing her the coffee he’s clearly delegated as hers. “Is it fair to assume you don’t have any painkillers here at all.” 

Emily narrows her eyes at him in jest, cursing him internally for knowing her so well. “You think you know everything Aaron Hotchner.” 

“I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll go to the drug store for you before I head home.” 

She sips her coffee and closes her eyes as she enjoys the taste of it, and it occurs to her how right this feels. To be sat in bed with him enjoying their morning coffee together, like they’ve done this countless times instead of this being the first. 

“We should talk about it.” She says gently, knowing she doesn’t have to elaborate further. He’d kissed her the night before, years of tension and missed opportunities culminating in a moment of comfort she’d so desperately needed. He’d stayed in her bed with her - nothing happening beyond him holding her close as she let out all of her feelings the awful case she had been on. It felt more poignant to her than she expects it would have if they had jumped the gun and immediately had sex. 

“We will.” He says, as if it’s the most simple thing in the world, before leaning into her and pressing a kiss to her lips. 

He tastes like coffee and the promise of something new. 

________________________________

She makes him coffee very early the morning after they do have sex for the first time. In the time between them starting their relationship and them taking that step there have been plenty of times they have slept next to each other, so she’s already aware of his habits. He still wakes up early, painfully so, and she never gets the chance to make the coffee first. This morning though her work phone rang earlier than even Aaron Hotchner would get out of bed naturally, and as much as she wanted to stay snuggled into his side for a few more hours duty called. 

She snuck quietly out of her room as she took the call and went about her morning routine as silently as she could so she didn’t disturb him. She wakes him just before she leaves and kisses him goodbye, promising to let him know where she is going and how long she’ll be gone for as soon as she knows herself. He doesn’t resist, or get annoyed at her leaving because he understands, and Emily kisses him again before she leaves her apartment.

Aaron walks out to Emily’s kitchen to find the coffee machine already full and ready to go, with an upside down mug with a piece of paper up against it on the counter next to it. He picks up the paper and smiles as he reads the note:

_Lock up when you are ready to go home, and keep hold of the key. It will come in handy whenever the BAU strikes in future._

_Em x_

He smiles as he lifts the mug and sees the key to the apartment he’s stood in sat under it, thinking how typical it is of her to give him a key to her place for a purely practical reason. 

He pours himself a cup of coffee and gets ready to go home, already knowing his son will tease him for being out all night. 

________________________________

Their relationship is different than what she had always expected it could be. Back when the idea of her and Aaron was nothing more than a hypothetical to her she always thought they’d be great but would always be on the precipice of crashing and burning. Both of them too guarded and fiery to handle things the right way. It was part of why they kept missing their chance again and again. Neither of them ready at the same time.

She had worried when they first took the leap beyond friendship that it could still be the case, but she had been pleasantly surprised. They still argued, tonight had been a fine example of that, but they both dealt with it much better than they would have if they had got together earlier. She wondered if it was because they were older. Neither of them had exactly been young back then, but they had been more foolhardy. 

Emily knew it was mostly down to how much they had both lost, how close they had come to this never even being a possibility. Their relationship was precious to both of them and they knew that. So no matter how many harsh words were exchanged they’d take the time to cool off and try again, not willing to let this thing they had worked so hard for to fall apart. 

Whilst that is the case, she doesn’t want to let him off too easily for what he’d said to her earlier in the evening. The sting of his doubt of her commitment to him, to them, still curling in her stomach. So when she senses him enter the room, the smell of coffee assaulting her nose, she ignores him. 

He uses the drink as a peace offering. Whilst Aaron knows she isn’t innocent in their confrontation he does know she’s also too stubborn to do anything about it. 

He places the mug in front of her on the coffee table where she has taken refuge in the living room. It’s their first big fight since she moved into the house he once only shared with Jack, and he knows she is struggling with the knowledge she had no where else to storm off to since she gave her own place up. He knows the very fact she no longer has her own place shows the words he had thrown at her in anger, that she wasn’t in this was much as she was, were wrong. 

“That better be decaffeinated.” She comments, not moving her gaze from the book in her lap. She’s not actually reading it, he knows that much, but she doesn’t look at him.

“It’s 10pm, of course it’s decaffeinated.” 

She picks it up then, still not looking at him, and takes a sip before setting it back down. He finally gets her attention when he picks up the same mug himself and takes a sip from it. She frowns at him “Did you not make one for yourself?” 

“I thought we could share.” 

She knew he hated sweetener in his coffee, but she had tasted it in the mug he was holding in his hands. She could feel her resolve at staying mad at him crumbling at the mere idea of the fact he was drinking coffee he didn’t even _like_ just so he could share it with her. “Cute.” She says, her tone not matching her turn of phrase.

“I thought so.” He dares to crack a smile at her before putting the mug back on the table in front of them. “I am sorry, Em. I know you’re as in this as I am.” 

“Then why did you say it, Aaron.” 

He winces, but is pleased when she doesn’t flinch away when he places a hand on her thigh. “I was hurt when you seemed so against the idea of marrying me and I lashed out.” 

Emily sighs, finally putting the book she’s holding down on the table before placing her hand over his on her leg. “It’s not that I don’t want to marry you, you just took me by surprise. Thats all. It’s not even been a year since we started being us.” 

“So you do want to marry me?” He asks, confusion all over his face. He didn’t like being confused, it unsettled him, and she knew that. She smiles at him and eases the frown line in between his eyebrows with the tips of her index finger.

“Yes.” She answers simply, as a mischievous smile flits across her face, any upset held towards him disappearing. “Although, you do have to ask again.” 

He groans and leans forward, his forehead landing on her shoulder and she laughs at him as she wraps her arms around him. “You are hard work, Emily Prentiss.” 

She presses a kiss to the top of his head and he can feel her wide smile. “You love me though.” 

“I really do.” 

________________________________

The morning after their wedding he wakes her gently, and the first thing she is aware of beyond his fingers on her cheek is the smell of coffee in the room. She groans at him and she gets a chuckle in return. He’s always found her inability to function the first few minutes she’s awake endearing and amusing. 

“Come on, Em. You’ve got to get up.” 

She feels the bed dip as he climbs in next to her, and she rolls towards him throwing an arm around his waist from where he is sat next to her. “Why.” 

He chuckles again and she pinches the skin at his hip in response. “We’ve got to get to the airport so we can go on our honeymoon.”

“Seems like a stupid decision.” She mumbles, finally opens her eyes to look up at him. “Who do we think we are going on a honeymoon at our age anyway?”

It was a heated discussion they’d had many times since he proposed in her office and they started to get ready for their wedding. He was very pro the idea of them getting a week away together, knowing she rarely got time off of work and between that and Jack they never had a huge amount of time alone. She had scrunched her nose up at the idea of it, citing that he had already been on honeymoon when he got married the first time, and that she wasn’t some young thing that needed whisking off to a new place with her new husband. She just wanted to start their life together.

He’d eventually won her around, and had booked it all himself. He hadn’t even told her where they were going - saying it was a surprise for the morning they left. He woke her up earlier than necessary, largely so he get could her morning mood out of the way so it could give way to the excitement he knew she had laying underneath all the bravado she was putting out. 

“If you drink your coffee I’ll tell you where we are going.”  
She sighs happily and sits up, taking the coffee from him after stealing a quick kiss and settling into his side. “I’m not sure what all the secrecy is about - it’s very hard to pack for a vacation when you don’t know where you are going.”

“It’s called a surprise, sweetheart.” 

“You know I hate surprises.” She murmurs, but he can hear the joking nature of her voice now, the sleepiness in her tone disappearing. “Where are we going then?” 

He’s nervous now, knowing he had taken a gamble on this and that it could go either way. He hopes he has read it right and that she’ll love the idea. “We’re going to Paris.” 

She stares blankly at him for a moment, and opens her mouth to say something but no words come out. 

He continues to talk, explaining his reasoning. “I know you haven’t been back since you had to go there whilst Doyle was on the run. You said to me once you used to love it there but it had been tainted, I thought we could make new, good memories there. Together.” 

“You remember me saying that?” She asks, she’d only said it once, very early on after he had called her asking to meet. They were’t even together then - just trying to figure out where they could fit back into each others lives. 

He nods in response. “I’m sorry if it’s a bad idea.” He’s doubting himself now. This is one of the rare occasions where he can’t read her and he doesn’t like it.

“No,” She quickly responds, placing the hand that isn’t grasping her coffee to his neck, her thumb tracing his jawline. “It’s a lovely idea, it’s so sweet.” She smiles at him, and he spots her chin wobbling slightly as she tries to keep her emotions at bay. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.” 

He doesn’t respond to that, knowing his only answer is that he doesn’t know what he did to deserve her either. It’s an argument they have had so often and they don’t have time for it this morning. “Drink your coffee, Mrs Hotchner. We have a plane to catch.” 

________________________________

_I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." - J.R.R.R Tolkien_

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think :) 
> 
> Until next time,
> 
> SequinSmile x


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